The World Athletics governing body has opened the bidding process for hosting rights to the second edition of its soon-to-be-launched Ultimate Championship competition.
The 2028 edition is due to take place just two months after the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, with those interested in hosting the event invited to contact World Athletics head of bidding, Mark Hurst, at bidding@worldathletics.org.
The pre-qualification form submission deadline is October 1, with a targeted dialogue phase to follow.
The World Athletics Ultimate Championship, unveiled in June 2024, will debut in 2026 as the climax to the track and field season and will then take place every two years.
It will be the next major track and field event following the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo and will be staged in Budapest, Hungary, from September 11 to 13.
It will pit world champions, Olympic champions, Diamond League winners, and the year’s best-performing athletes against each other to crown an ultimate champion.
The $10 million prize money is the largest ever offered in the history of track and field athletics. All athletes competing at the championship will be financially rewarded, and the winners will receive $150,000 each.
The three-day event will feature eight to 16 of the world's top-ranked athletes per discipline competing in a new compact format for athletics, with each evening session including semi-finals and finals for track disciplines, and straight finals for field disciplines.
The Ultimate Championship will feature several track disciplines, including sprints, middle and long-distance races, relays, jumps, and throws, with athletes representing their national teams.
Sports marketing heavyweight Infront secured the international media rights sale contract for the Ultimate Championship in 2024 and is in charge of securing a worldwide broadcast portfolio for the inaugural edition of the event.
That tie-up comes as an addition to the existing multi-faceted relationship between Infront and World Athletics - the agency already handles international media rights sales for the top-tier Diamond League, and the Continental Tour Gold and Indoor Tour Gold.
In addition, the Host Broadcast Services (HBS), wholly-owned subsidiary of Infront, has been appointed in that capacity for the Budapest event, with Tata Communications as the host broadcaster itself.
That builds on the five-year deal unveiled in June between Tata and World Athletics, through which Tata Communications will provide events across the World Athletics calendar with bespoke coverage and broadcast content, which it will deliver across continents.
